In Yemen a lot of the "educated" people I met told me that they felt that there was a real tension or tug-of-war between the "liberating" aspects of the city with its emphasis on class association and the tribal aspects outside the city. Inside the city they didn't often want to mention it but the jambia did give it away on the new arrivals who wore it and when "professionals" wore them to functions (usually prefering a neutral coloured one instead.
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